On Saturday night, the Washington Commanders pulled off an upset victory against the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lions, punching their ticket to the NFC Championship Game. The NFC matchup averaged 33.6 million viewers across FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports streaming platforms, marking the fourth most-watched Saturday NFC divisional game in FOX history. Moreover, the audience for the contest is projected to have peaked with 35.7 million viewers from the quarter-hour from 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. EST, according to data from Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics.
FOX broadcast the Saturday NFC divisional game in the late-window last year, which featured the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers and averaged 37.54 million viewers. The Commanders-Lions game was down 10.5% year-over-year. Compared to the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles game in the comparable window two years ago, accruing an average of 28.64 million viewers, the game is up by 17.3%. FOX also broadcast the late-Sunday window divisional game under the previous broadcast deal, which amassed an average of 45.65 million viewers in the 2022 season when the 49ers faced the Dallas Cowboys.
The lead NFL on FOX broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, analyst Tom Brady and sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi were on the call for the game. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels garnered headlines securing his spot as the sixth rookie quarterback in NFL history to play in a conference championship game. Meanwhile, the result was disappointing for the Lions, who were looking to return to the NFC Championship Game and qualify for the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
FOX Sports is in the midst of a 10-year media rights contract with the NFL reportedly worth $2.25 billion per year. The company will present Super Bowl LIX from New Orleans, La. next month on its linear broadcast network, along with streaming in 4K on the Tubi platform for the first time. The NFL is coming off its most-watched Super Bowl in league history, drawing an average of 123.7 million viewers on CBS, Nickelodeon, Univision, Paramount+ and NFL digital platforms, which was also the most-viewed television program in U.S. history.
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